“I don’t understand.” Lena looks from the cook to the candlemaker. “Dancing is so much fun! How can it be a mistake?”
“I’ll explain.” Rebecca rolls her eyes. “It was a very lively dance and, well, let’s just say not everyone sitting at this table tonight is what you’d call a ballroom dancer.”
“Now, just a minute!” William protests. “I was doing my best!”
Rebecca ignores him. “One minute we’re dancing to the music, the next he spins right into the new cider keg, knocks it off the stand, and it rolls off and somehow starts picking up speed.”
Cullen’s voice rings with laughter. “People were leaping out of the way like they were trying out for the chorus line of a Broadway musical!”
“And everybody made it, too.” Pascal chuckles. “The keg was slowing down and it would have stopped by itself in another couple of seconds.”
All eyes turned toward the tunnel patriarch.
“I was only doing what was right.” Father peers at the others over the top of his glasses. “Someone might have been hurt. It was my responsibility to sacrifice myself for the greater good!”
Vincent grins at his father. “The only good thing about it was that with all the cider you’d already consumed, you were very flexible and relaxed when you threw yourself onto the rolling keg.”
By now Mary is wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “And lucky that it was nearly empty when you ended up underneath it on the floor, hugging it as if it were a teddy bear!”
Lena presses both hands over her mouth, but her giggles spill out anyway. “You’re all making that up! It never happened!”
“It most certainly did, my dear,” Father said, “and if it wouldn’t be extremely rude and inappropriate of me to do so, as proof I would describe the bruises I suffered on some most unfortunate parts of my anatomy.”
Everyone laughs long and hard. Catherine leans over to whisper to Lena. “I wish I’d been there to see that!”
“Me, too!”
Poor Father! He didn’t succeed in his attempts, but at least he was a good sport about it. You’re sure to do much better as you attempt to master your next challenge. Off you go, and when you return, you’ll learn a bit more about Winterfest.